On 18 January 2017 a catastrophic avalanche destroyed the Rigopiano Gran Sasso Resort & Wellness (Rigopiano Hotel) in the Gran Sasso National Park in Italy, with 40 people trapped and a death toll of 29. This article describes the location of the disaster and the general meteorological scenario, with field investigations to provide insight on the avalanche dynamics and its interaction with the hotel buildings. The data gathered in situ suggest that the avalanche was a fluidized dry snow avalanche, which entrained a sligthtly warmer snow cover along the path and reached extremely long runout distances with braking effect from mountain forests. The avalanche that reached the Rigopiano area was a “wood-snow” avalanche—a mixture of snow and uprooted and crushed trees, rocks, and other debris. There were no direct eyewitnesses at the event, and a quick post-event survey used a numerical model to analyze the dynamics of the event to estimate the pressure, velocity, and direction of the natural flow and the causes for the destruction of the hotel. Considering the magnitude and the damage caused by the event, the avalanche was at a high to very high intensity scale.

2017年1月18日，一场灾难性的雪崩摧毁了意大利格兰萨索国家公园的里戈皮亚诺格兰萨索度假村和健康酒店（里戈皮亚诺酒店），造成40人被困和29人死亡。气象场景，并进行实地调查，以了解雪崩动力学及其与酒店建筑物的相互作用。现场收集的数据表明，雪崩是一种流化的干雪雪崩，沿路径夹带温暖的积雪，并达到了极长的跳动距离，并有高山森林的制动作用。到达里戈皮亚诺地区的雪崩是“木雪”雪崩，是雪和连根拔起并压碎的树木，岩石和其他碎片的混合物。这次活动没有直接的目击者，事件发生后的快速调查使用了一个数值模型来分析事件的动态，以估计自然流的压力，速度和方向以及酒店破坏的原因。考虑到事件造成的严重程度和破坏，雪崩的强度范围从高到高。